The use of various floating apparatus arranged to be towed by a vessel for containing, collecting and skimming floating contaminants such as oil from the surface of a body of water is known in the prior art relating to the field of water pollution control. Reference can be made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,221,884, 3,369,664, 3,476,246, 3,686,870, 3,771,662, 3,688,506 and 3,886,750 for examples of such apparatus.
Examples of floating oil pollution collection vessels can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,876,903, 3,656,619, 3,682,316, 3,844,944 and 3,708,070.
An example of a floating surface skimmer having a float controlled inlet is also exemplified in Swiss Pat. No. 379,104 granted Aug. 14, 1964 to O. PAUSER.
All of the foregoing are intended to illustrate the field of the present invention and to illustrate certain prior art that is already known to applicant. Collectively they describe how oil booms of the type disclosed herein operate and the objectives that are normally sought when one undertakes to contain and remove surface contaminants such as oil from a body of water. They also illustrate various design considerations that must be taken into account in constructing floating oil contaminant collection and skimming devices.
This invention specifically is an improved oil boom construction of the general type disclosed in the present inventor's application Ser. No. 582,271, filed May 30, 1975, entitled "Oil Boom", this being a continuation of application Ser. No. 422,603, filed Dec. 3, 1973, now abandoned.